Peace & Justice Initiatives are coordinated by the Ascension and St. Edmund Peace and Justice Committee - The Peace & Justice Committee is a vibrant committee focused on many issues/concerns based on Catholic social teaching. Areas of focus include - Immigration, End Violence (Congregations Committed to Peace), Hunger (Community Garden), The Environment [Honoring Our Mother Earth (HOME Team)] and other issues/concerns which arise.

Our Oak Park community has had Peace and Justice work being done for many many years and for over 40 years the Ascension Peace and Justice committee has been meeting and making impacts in our community and in our state. We joined with the St. Edmund community and are wanting to expand the reach to all of the Catholic Community of Oak Park.

We have our meetings on the second Monday of the month at the Ascension Dining Room or Murphy Hall at St. Edmund’s campus from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. We are always welcoming new members.

This year we are striving to incorporate more of the Catholic Social Teaching into our bulletins and into the work we want to set up for this year. There are so many opportunities to do the work we are called to do through the social teachings of the Church.

During September 2025, we are focusing on the social teaching of the dignity of work and the rights of workers. This was the first social teaching that Pope Leo the XIII wrote in Rerum Novarum in 1891. This is still something that is needed to be addressed. As we have just celebrated Labor Day and all workers, let us also remember what we are called to do.
Part of what we are called to look at is how we the people are not being served by the economy. Work needs to have dignity in it and not just showing us as numbers? Are we charging by the hour? Are we having to meet certain quotas that are not reasonable? Are we getting paid appropriately for the work we do? Are we paying our employees fairly for the work they do? These are some of the questions that come to mind but there are so many more aspects to the dignity of work and rights of workers.
> Explore the USCCB Website
Interested persons may contact Clare Kalemba at [email protected].
> Social Justice Resource Center